Meeting Eli
by Caramelia7
Summary: Carmen is is not happy when her mom tells her they are moving again, but maybe a fresh start is just what she needed. When she finally starts to like it at her new school she comes between two best friends who could ruin their friendship over her...
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1. First day at Degrassi.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, irritated Carmen opens her eyes and steps out of her bed. Her alarm clock is on the other side of the room because otherwise she won't get out of bed. When the alarm is finally off she looks into the mirror. What happened to me? she thinks. I used to be happy about going to a new school. You know, a fresh start, meet new friends! But going to a new high school for the 8th time is not something to be happy about whatever her mom says. She walks through her room towards her closet. When she has found a nice dress to wear she walks to the bathroom to shower. Although Degrassi is a 5 minute walk from where she lives she still gets up at the time she used to when she lived on the farm 4 years ago. It's just an old habit she says when she's asked why.

Carmen is listening to her mom while eating guinoa for breakfast. If you don't know what guinoa is it's a kind of grain that the Inca's used to eat. Her mom is all into ecologic and healthy food. 'so first day at a new school are you exited?.'Carmen looks at her mom they have talked about this for over 2 weeks her mom most have understood that she's NOT excited.

After breakfast Carmen grabs her schoolbag and runs out shouting a quick 'bye' at her mom. When she arrives at Degrassi she notices an immediate difference from her old school. The big notice board in front of the school is actually up to date! She looks at the school and thinks that she's lucky the school year has only begun for 1 month so she should probably be fine. When she walks up the steps she has the weirdest feeling that she might be able to have a good year. She shakes it of immediately no that's just hope and there isn't hope she says to herself as she walks in.

Well the first hour she was already sent to the principal's office good start of the year Carmen really great. When she sits down in a chair in the waiting room before the office she smiles at a boy sitting in front of her. He smiles back, he's cute she thinks. 'Uniform problems?' the boy asks. Carmen laughs and says:' I don't do uniforms.' 'I have a friend who has a problem with that to'he smiles 'but Degrassi is pretty strict so if you ask me for advice to survive here I would say try not to stand out to much.' 'I didn't ask but thank you I'll keep it in mind I'm Carmen by the way.' 'I am Adam nice to meet you. ' I smile at him and then I notice something on his bag. It has an GHBT clip on it. 'Cool clip' I say while I point at his bag. 'He follows my eyes and swallows 'Yes thanks, look don't judge all right!' 'No of course not I think it's actually really cool you are coming out for that even though you just gave me the advice to try and fit in.' 'What do you say I'm coming out for exactly?'Adam has an interested smile on his face but she can see in his eyes that he is concerned about her answer. ' For being transgender.' Adams expression changes from amused to astonished. 'What gave me away?' ' Nothing in your appearance it's just I saw you look at me like a boy would and not like a gay boy would so I figured.' 'I could be bi though.' Adam says. I smile and say: 'But you aren't are you?' 'No Sherlock I am not.' He smiles and says bye to me when he is called into the office.

When it's lunchtime she feels absolutely lost. The first couple of hours have been filled with trying to find where her classes are and with having dirty looks thrown at her by teachers for not wearing the school uniform. The principal was weirdly nice. But still the only thing she could think of was or finding that nice boy Adam or just running home. Luckily when she walked in to the canteen she saw him sitting at a table with another cute and kind of darkish looking boy. Now she doesn't know what to do, should she just go over there and say hello? He is the only person she knows at the moment so why not. She walks over to the table and says: 'hi, Adam would you mind if I sit with you for lunch you're probably the only cool person I've met today so is that okay?' 'Sure' Adam says 'and thank you for calling me cool not a lot of people call me that.' Carmen laughs and sits next to him they talk a little about the principal and then the darkish looking boy cuts in and says: 'I am sorry but Adam you haven't introduced me to this lovely lady yet.' 'This is the girl I was talking about Eli, the one who said she didn't do uniforms.' 'I'm Carmen' Carmen says. He nods and looks at her weirdly his eyes are really nicely green colored. 'I'm Eli, hopefully the second cool person you met today' he winks at me.

When Carmen is walking home after school she can feel her entire body relax. This day wasn't as horrible as she had imagined . Eli and Adam are really cool they showed her where she had her classes and they compared schedules with her and she now knows that she has 2 classes with them tomorrow. Lightly smiling she walks home.

The next morning she does put on her school uniform after a lecture about obeying the rules from her mom. When she walks out of the house, Eli is standing in front of it against a black actually rather nice car. 'Eli? That's weird, I was just talking to my mom about Adam and you, how are you?' He looks weirdly at her and says 'I'm fine thanks, do you need a ride?' 'For that five minute walk? Normally no but your car looks really interesting so yes I need a ride.' Eli laughs 'well come on and meet Morty then.' He gestures that she should follow him and opens the door for her. When she is in the car he walks around it and sits next to her in the car behind the steering wheel. He starts driving and says: 'so this is Morty the second, Morty thinks it's a pleasure to meet you.' 'Okay hi Morty nice to meet you to.' She plays along with a little smile on her face 'what happened to Morty the first?' 'Oo, I crashed him into a wall.' She looks at him wondering if he is messing with her. His expression is serious. 'What your girlfriend broke up with you or something?' He looks at her astonished 'wow right and it was only your first guess. ' She looks at him wait a second she was just joking did he really crash his car over a girl? 'She must have been very special' Carmen says. He looks at her like he is thinking about what to tell her and what not. 'She was, but I'm over it.' 'So crashing a car helped?' 'Not directly but somewhere maybe.' I look bewildered and he smirks at me. ' You know what's weird' he says driving into the Degrassi parking lot. 'Weirder then crashing cars that you call Morty? No tell me.' He laughs and says: 'that you haven't asked me why I was in front of your house or how I even know your address.' We step out of the car he's looking at me to answer his question while we walk up the steps into the school. 'That is weird indeed, thanks for the lift but I really have to go and get a locker now, see you at lunch' Carmen says finding herself incredibly mysterious. Eli watches her walk down the hallway he has an amused smile on his face. Adam walks up to him. 'You like her don't you?' Eli laughs and changes the subject.

From Carmen's perspective:

When I got my locker I wonder through the hallways trying to find it. When I think I found it I try to open it. It isn't working, and I'm using force. 'What are you doing?' a voice says behind me. I turn while saying : 'I was trying to open my locker, but it's not working.' 'That's because it's not yours it's mine.' I look at her 'oops I'm sorry, I just can't seem to find mine.' 'You're new aren't you? I'm Clare Edwards.' 'I'm Carmen and yes I'm new.' 'your locker is this one next to me I think, because I know it's not used this year yet.' I try and open it yes it's my locker. 'So have you met anyone nice yet?' for some reason when she asked me this I got the feeling that she knew who I met. 'Yes there are some nice people.' 'That's nice, who are they?' 'Well I met you and Adam and Eli.' 'Oo, you met Adam and Eli? What did you think about them?' I see she knows them, she probably saw me with them yesterday or she saw me with Eli this morning. Eli who crashed his car for a girl. What if Clare was that girl or maybe she is Adam's girl. 'They are great' is the only thing I say. I quickly say bye and just before I walk away she says: 'Don't let Eli fool you he is charming but on a lot of meds.' 'Thank you, but I think he should tell me that himself, I'll see you around.'

END OF CHAPTER ONE.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two: The playing goddess.

Carmen is loudly talking to a computer in her room 'School has been so amazing I'm going to audition for the school play just like last year!'Carmen says to her best friend who smiles at her from her computer screen. 'That's great Carmen you seem so happy, ehm so you're not missing your best friend aka me so much are you?' 'Of course I am, wait why would you say that?' 'I'm so, so, so sorry Carmen but you know the plans we made for this weekend, that I would come over? Well Mike has planned this really nice dinner and when he told me I completely forgot about our plans. But Mike was so excited and we've been together for over 5 months and maybe this is weird but my parents will be out because they think I'll be with you, so if you would cover for me I could you know invite him over for some… together time… please…' Carmen looks at her friends face on the screen. 'Wait since when do you call having sex "together time" and sure I'll be your cover just as long as you promise to do it safe." There's a ring from the doorbell. Carmen quickly says bye to her friend and runs downstairs to receive a package from the mailman. She puts the package on the table. It smells weird. She reads the address it's for her mom. She lifts up the package and walks into the kitchen where she puts it next to the fridge. She takes out her phone and tries to ring her mom but her prepaid money is all gone from calling her old friends.

Carmen has quickly run three blocks to find the nearest convenient store. She walks in and gets a 10 dollar prepaid card. She takes the card and just when she turns around she walks into Clare. 'Oo I'm sorry for almost hitting you, how are you' Clare says weirdly trying to be nice. 'I'm fine thanks, just getting some money for my phone. And how are you?''I am great thanks really happy actually. Needed to call your boyfriend without parental supervision?' she points at my prepaid card. 'Oo no I just needed to call my mum but we just started living here so we don't have a phone at home yet, and I don't have a boyfriend so I wouldn't have to worry about that.' 'Oo come on everybody knows you and Adam are together everybody is talking about it.' 'Wait me and Adam? I only know him for two weeks, it's not true.' 'It isn't?' Clare asks looking a little worried was she actually caring about Carmen, or was it all just a scam to get Carmen to be her friend and then really hurt her. Carmen shakes her head and quietly says bye to Clare while she walks out of the store.

The next day Carmen can clearly see that Clare was absolutely not exaggerating when she said everybody was talking about it. Everybody really was. The silent glances from everyone while she walked to her locker felt like iced knives in her back. But she shook it off, took her books and walked to where Adam and Eli were standing and just said: 'Hey there you guys, how are you?' They both looked at her in a way she was not used to. They looked worried. 'I'm fine but are you?'Eli asked. 'Yes I am feeling great actually, why wouldn't I be?' 'So you don't know yet? I thought Clare told you she told Carmen isn't that right Eli?' Adam asked looking even more worried now. 'Yes she told me that she saw Carmen at the convenient store in her neighborhood.' Carmen's head started spinning. Eli knew Clare, and probably pretty well since they talked about her. Adam had heard the gossip and was kind of panicky about it and Clare lives near her cause Eli just said that it was a convenient store in Clare's neighborhood. ' You mean the gossiping about Adam and me being an item? Yes I heard that, why are you so panicky about it?' Adam looked at her it wasn't a worried look anymore it was more of a confused look 'Why are you NOT panicky about this? I am transgender! This isn't gossiping they will make your life hell just because they think we are together, it's bullying.' At that moment a group of girls passes them whispering all about how Carmen is gay and trying to find a way to still date guys. When Carmen shoots them a dirty look one of the girls says rather loudly: 'see we figured her out and now she's mad at us.' The girls giggle and walk to their lockers, all shooting knowing looks at her and Adam when they open them. 'See what Adam's talking about? You have to start dating some other guy to change the rumor.' Eli smirked a little at her as if he was referring to himself as a good other guy to be dating. But she wasn't going to give him that glory, so she said: 'My mum always tells me you have to give the public what they want as soon as possible and they'll get bored of it quicker.' Adam looks at her confused while Eli lifts his eyebrows. 'I don't understand wh…' but before Adam can finish his sentence Carmen kisses him. It's a long kiss and Adam can't help but put his arms around her waist and pull her closer. When they finally stop kissing they don't let go yet they stay in that embrace for a minute just looking at each other. After what seems years but is actually 5 minutes Carmen lightly removes herself from the embrace smiles at Adam and says: 'see you at lunch.' And walks to her class. Eli slams his locker shut and looks at Adam. He looks mad, and openes his mouth to say something but eventually decides against it and walks away. Shit! Adam thinks, Adam and Eli are good friends, Eli told Adam he likes Carmen, and Adam just kissed her in front of him. For some strange reason Adam had actually enjoyed the kiss. He tries to shake of that feeling to be able to keep his friendship with Eli, but it doesn't really go away.

During class Carmen tries to think of a good reason why she kissed Adam. It was just an impulsive reaction to all the gossiping about her. But weirdly enough she enjoyed the kiss, Adam is a good kisser. And the look on Eli's face was priceless, she had shown him that he really had to work harder to get her to even go on one date with him. Eli was sweet and mysterious, the guy Carmen knew she would easily fall in love with. But she had had the mysterious type before and that ended badly. She was done with them. Adam was different he was sweet, funny, clever and interesting. He did care a little too much about what other people say about him, but that was not a problem she could help him with that. Eli and Adam are good friends. Maybe that's what's wrong maybe that's why Carmen has a weird feeling about it. It's a feeling like it's all going right but there is a complication that you can't pass without looking in to it.

At lunch time it takes Carmen longer than normal to choose her lunch from the counter. She walks towards Adam and Eli who are sitting as far away from the counter as possible. Eli looks cross with Adam. Clare who's sitting next to Eli acts like she doesn't notice and talks about her internship and the amazing opportunities she is getting. Carmen smiles and says: 'That sounds like so much fun you are so lucky!' Clare smiles at her obviously glad someone cares about what she says. Maybe Clare isn't that bad. Adam looks up from his salad and smiles at her 'I thought you might not be coming.' 'It just took a little longer to pick what I wanted for lunch they were out of the nice salad.' I sit down and point at his salad 'you probably got the last.' Adam smiled and pushed his plate towards me 'we can share.' 'Yummy, thanks!' Eli looks from Adam to me and then just stares at me. Clare stands up kisses Eli on the cheek and says: 'I'll see you tonight then.' Eli doesn't look up he just keeps on staring at me and says: 'yes see you tonight.' And Clare walks of, Eli and Clare are seeing each other tonight. Carmen tries not to show how confused she is. So they're together, in her head she really hopes so because then it wouldn't be such a problem if she dated Adam. Adam looked at Eli and said: 'listen Eli I'm really sorry but…' Eli looked at him furious he stood up 'fuck you Adam, fuck you.' 'What was that?'Carmen asked Adam. Adam looked at me and shook his head 'nothing just stuff, don't worry about it, I'll fix it. But first we need to talk about why you kissed me this morning.' He just asked it like that. He didn't talk around it he just asked, no mysterious waiting, no ignoring, no confusing riddles, he was so nice and perfectly honest. She blushed, he was the first person to ever make her blush in a nice way. She had blushed before but it had always been because she was a shamed. 'You're blushing.' Adam said looking amused. 'No I'm not… it's just… warm in here…'Carmen stammered. 'Well we can go somewhere cooler' he winked at her and held out his hand, Carmen took it and let him lead her through canteen.

Adam led her through the hallway, through the main entrance, down the steps and down the road. Then he pulled her behind a couple of bushes. There they were looking at each other, both waiting for the other to make the first move. Carmen decides she has to be the one to do that and lets her hands dance through the leaves of the bushes while she says: 'you asked me why I kissed you…' 'Yes, I did, but you probably just did that to make the rumors go away. So forget I even asked,' Carmen looks at him her hands stop dancing she shakes her head. 'If I wanted to make the rumors go away I would have kissed… someone else!'Carmen says, thinking she would've probably kissed Eli if that was the case. 'Then why did you kiss me?' How can he not know? How is it possible that he doesn't realize that I like him, Carmen thinks. Maybe I should show him. Carmen's hands which are still in mid air from dancing through the leaves move towards Adam. She puts her arms around him and looks into his eyes. She kisses him, he kisses her back. His arms pull her in closer, his tongue finds his way into her mouth, she moves her hands through his hair. In the distance they hear the bell, the classes are starting again. They slowly pull away, he looks at her and strokes her hair 'Tell me you like me.' Carmen looks at him 'do you really still doubt that?' He smiles kisses her softly for one more time and then they walk back to school.

Carmen's mother is singing some song from Glee while she is cooking special ecologic pasta. Carmen is sitting at the table writing an essay 'can you stop that please? I can't concentrate this way.' 'Well maybe you should clean your room so you will actually do your homework there.' Carmen looks up mad 'you always say I don't spend enough time downstairs.' 'Yes but that doesn't mean do your homework downstairs it means get out of your room!' Carmen shrugs and writes a couple of sentences, then she looks up at her mum. 'Mum?' 'Yes dear?' 'You remember that guy I told you about, you remember Adam?' 'The transgender kid? Yes of course you talk about him all the time. You would almost think you're in love with him.' She laughed and turned off the gas. 'Well about that… I… well Me and Adam… ehm since you mentioned being in love… I you know…'Carmen stammered. 'Spit it out sweetheart.' Her mum said while facing her daughter with a concerned look on her face. 'I like him' Carmen spat out. Her mum smiled 'Good I thought you were going to say that you are pregnant or something.' 'Mum you do know what transgender means, right? Adam is physically a girl but in his mind he is a boy.' 'Of course I know what it means, don't be silly little girl. And no I think it's fine you like him I can't keep you from liking or dating someone. And from what you've told me he sounds really nice and decent.' She smiles and puts the pasta on the table. When they both have food on their plates she asks : 'So? Is he a good kisser?' Carmen looks up amazed "what makes you think we kissed?' 'You never ask for my opinion about you dating someone before you've actually kissed him or her, I've known you practically your entire life you know!' her mum says laughing.

Carmen went out to throw away the garbage bag. It was already beginning to get dark so she wanted to do it as quick as possible, that's probably why she didn't see the car parked in front of her house. It was Eli's car, but Eli wasn't in it. When she came back around the corner from her street she walked straight into him. 'Wha… oh Eli, I'm sorry, I didn't see you.' She smiled a little uncomfortably at him ( what the hell was Eli doing here?). 'That's fine, I was actually looking for you. I just came from Clare's and I wanted to see if you're okay. And since you life pretty close to Clare I thought why not see if by any chance you're still up.' He had come from Clare's, and he didn't come because he wanted to check up on her, he wanted to rub him and Clare in her face. He was a liar, a mysterious guy who always gets what he wants. 'So are you alright?' he smiled at her encouragingly. 'I'm not sure.' Carmen said before she could stop herself. There was just such a nice feeling of trust she got when she was talking to Eli, and whatever she said in her head about him she couldn't resist it, she couldn't resist him. She shook her head trying to throw that thought out of it, but it didn't work. Her phone played a nice little piece of piano music to indicate she had received a text. She took her phone from the pocket in her sweater: ADAM 3 : Miss you, have a good night I hope I visit you in my dreams X. Carmen looked at the message for several seconds before looking at Eli and saying: 'Why are you really here Eli? What's the real reason, and no more lies I can see right through you! And if you respect me you won't lie to me.' Eli looked at her his normally fierce and strong look softened he closed his eyes for a second. 'I respect you, more than you'll ever know. So you want the truth? I like you, and I know you like me too, you're just trying to convince yourself you're not. You are the most amazing girl at Degrassi, you can act, write and make people laugh. You don't mind what other people think about you and you like trying out new things. And I know that I should be happy for you and Adam, but I'm not. I told him I liked you before he did. I know he was the first guy at Degrassi you met who was actually nice to you but you met me too, and you know we would be good together, better even.' Eli looked at her hopeful. Carmen pushed past him and started walking towards her house, he followed her screaming : 'Carmen just hear me out, listen Carmen!' He caught up with her in front of the house next to hers. He stepped in front of her and looked her in the eyes 'I know you're trying to make me work hard to get you, and believe me I won't let this go easily but I just want you to know what you're missing before I go into battle.' Carmen was confused, what did he mean know what you're missing? She was missing a weird mysterious bossy guy who was going into battle? Well let him go she thought, but before she could tell him Eli kissed her lightly on her cheek and said: 'think about it.' And he walked to his car. Carmen watched him drive past her and into the darkness. Right, just what she needed another complication in trying to be normal. She smiled I will never be normal and weirdly enough I don't mind it that much.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Why me?

Carmen wakes up in the middle of the night, there's someone on the stairs. Who could it be, it's around two a clock at night. Carmen quietly slips out of her bed and walks to her bedroom door. She presses her ear against the door and tries to concentrate on what she can hear on the other side. There is definitely someone out there. She looks around for a heavy object she could hit someone with. No luck the only thing she can make out in the dark are her tennis racket and her guitar. She can hear the creek that the tenth step makes. She always memorizes which steps on the stairs make noise. She looks around her room again, maybe a book, she looks at her huge book collection, poor books she thinks. Suddenly she hears her phone ring, she shrieks and runs to get it. It's Abby her best friend from New York. She pushes the reject button, she picks up her tennis racket and walks towards her door. The footsteps have stopped. The person on the other side was probably just as shocked from the sudden sound as she was, although this person didn't scream. Carmen took the metal doorknob in one hand, getting ready to turn it. The cold of the metal feels calming for her sweaty hands. She counts down from three to one and then opens the door screams and hits the figure in a black hooded sweatshirt, who was standing at the top of the stairs. He loses his balance and in order to get it back he grabs Carmen's arm. Carmen who wasn't expecting this tries to shake him off, but he only grabs her with his other arm too. But he's one head bigger then Carmen and probably two times as heavy, so she loses her balance two.

For Carmen it feels like she and the burglar are falling down the stairs in slow motion. His hood falls of and just before they hit the ground Carmen realizes she knows him. He breaks her fall, she climbs up and checks if everything is alright with herself. Her left shoulder is feeling painful, but the rest feels fine. She looks at the burglar: ' Are you okay Drew?' But before he can answer she hears her mother running to the top of the stairs. Carmen grabs Drew pushes him into the closet underneath the stairs, she motions to him that he has to be quiet, and walks back to the stairs. Her mother is already half down them and when she sees Carmen she runs down these last steps and shouts: 'are you alright? Did you fall? Did you break something? What happened, dear?' 'I thought I heard a burglar, so I ran out of my room with my tennis racket to hit him. But I think I just imagined it. And since we've only lived here for two weeks now, I wasn't used to the stairs being so close to my door so I fell.' Her mother said something in Spanish that Carmen didn't understand, and hugged her. She checks Carmen's shoulder and eventually goes back to bed. Carmen waits a minute and then pulls Drew out of the closet. She grabs his arm and pulls him into the kitchen. She opens the kitchen door and looks at him. 'Go before she hears you.' 'Why did you cover for me?' ' Because I know your girlfriend Bianca and your brother Adam, now go. We'll talk at school.' Drew thanks her and walks through the kitchen door into the darkness.

Carmen tries to sleep again after this but she can't. She turns the lights on and looks at her watch which is lying on her nightstand. It's seven past three. There's also a book on her nightstand, she gets out of bed and takes the book with her while she silently slips out of her room. She quietly walks down the stairs cleverly avoiding the tenth step. She walks through the dining room into the kitchen puts on a small light above the stove and puts the kettle on. After a couple of minutes she sneaks back to her bedroom with a big steaming mug of tea. She decides not to read her book, but to turn on her computer and see if she had received any mail. She looked through her inbox, a couple of mails from her old friends, some advertisements and some notices of a birthday coming up. Boring, she thinks. She turns off the computer again and gets into bed. She sits up straight in her bed and opens a new text on her phone. She thinks for a while about what she will write then she starts typing . To: Adam : Are you awake? Xx. She drinks sips of her tea and watches the seconds pass on her watch. Her phone buzzes.

Adam : Yes I am what's up? Xx

Carmen: I can't sleep, why are YOU still awake? X

Adam : I couldn't sleep either, Drew got home late and my mother was worried about him. Why can't you sleep? Xx

Carmen: Because your brother was here tonight!

Adam : Wait my brother was at your house? Why?

Carmen: I think he was going steal something but I'm not sure. I covered him of course, I told him we would talk at school… what do you think he was doing at my house? Xx

Adam : I don't know, he has enough money, he has a great girlfriend, he has a nice family what more could he want?

Carmen: I don't know, has he been involved in other criminal activities before?

Adam : Yes.

Carmen: Is that all your going to tell me? just yes?

Adam : No I'll tell you tomorrow. Try and get some sleep Carmen. Xxx

Carmen: Ok tell me tomorrow, thank you, you get some sleep as well : - ) xx

Adam and his brother always seemed good mates. And Drew always seemed like a rather nice guy. But if Drew had been involved in such bad criminal activity that Adam couldn't tell Carmen over a text but had to tell her in person, then she might need to change her opinion about him a bit. Her phone buzzed again, one new message. Carmen razes her eyebrows when she sees from who it is.

Eli G: Thinking about it?

Eli of course meant are you thinking about me, or better you and me. Carmen smiled of course she wasn't, she had just almost been robbed by the brother of the boy she liked. Her phone buzzed again.

Eli G: Even if you didn't, you probably do now.

End of chapter 3. All feedback welcome, hope you enjoyed


	4. Chapter 4

Meeting Eli. Chapter 4.

Chapter 4. How do you sleep?

Carmen opens her eyes, she had slept two hours since Eli's text. Her dreams where really shadowy and dark and a voice kept on saying : 'are you thinking about it? Are you thinking about it? Are you?' Carmen quickly jumped out of bed, took a shower, and ate a bowl of guinoa, before walking to school. There were a lot of people in front of the school, she spotted Clare in the crowd and caught up with her. When she asks her what's going on and why everybody is in front of the school. Clare tells her the school is closed, she points a couple of police men out to Carmen. Carmen pushes through the crowd, nobody seems to have actually asked the police officers what's going on. When she finally caught the attention of a nice looking female officer she asks her what's going on. The officer says that the information is confidential, she can't tell Carmen anything. Carmen tries to find Clare again, but Clare is nowhere to be found. Then Carmen spots Drew and Bianca sitting on the steps. Bianca looks worried and is holding Drew's hands. Carmen runs up to them and says: 'Please tell me that the only place you wanted to rob last night was mine, you didn't try and rob the school too did you?' Drew shook his head slightly, Bianca patted the open spot on the steps that was next to her. Carmen sat down, Bianca smiled a little at her. Bianca and Carmen had become rather good friends over the last two weeks. Almost all of their classes are together, and they both really needed a friend because Katie and Marisol where giving both of them a really hard time. 'The school is closed because someone's been killed.' Carmen looks shocked 'what? How? When? How do you even know? I asked a police officer a second ago and she said it was confidential.' 'Of course it is, if they would just tell that someone is dead and probably killed, everyone would start screaming and panicking.' Carmen nodded, 'of course but still, shouldn't all the students be send home then? I mean they're only in the way for the police don't you think?' Bianca shrugged 'if we are really in the way they would've send us away earlier.' 'Probably true, Drew where's Adam?' Drew looked up and shook his head 'I have no idea, probably with Eli. Anyway we have to talk about yesterday Carmen, I'm really sorry, come to my house at nine? I'll explain everything and after that you can stay for the party I'm having.' 'Okay thank you, I need to go find Adam now, see you tonight!' And Carmen walked into the crowd. Bianca turned towards Drew, 'are the rumors true?' when Drew gives her a confused look she adds : 'about her and Adam?' Drew shrugs: 'who knows, I know he likes her so that's one side of the story, I don't know about her.' 'It would be a reason why she didn't ask where you life, she probably knows because Adam told her, or she thinks she'll ask him.' Drew nods 'yes, it would be nice if Adam could have a nice relationship for a change, Carmen seems really nice.' 'She is, she really saved my ass from those bitches Marisol and Katie, she doesn't know my past that's the best of it.' Drew smiles at her and puts his arms around her, he hugs her and kisses her forehead, 'I'm so lucky to have you, you know?' Bianca smiles and nods.

Half an hour later, Carmen still hasn't found Adam. She also hasn't seen Clare again. The police made an announcement two minutes ago, that the school would be closed until twelve, and that after twelve the schools schedule would be resumed as usual. But since most students didn't live very near school they were now going to The Dot, or staying in front of the school. Carmen decided she would follow a group of kids that were going to The Dot. She had never been to The Dot before although all her friends came there regularly. But in the two weeks she had been living there she had never had the time to go there herself. She walked behind the group, trying not to look like she was following them, luckily the girls where way to busy with their new nail polishes, then they were with looking if people are following them.

Carmen was on the other side from The Dot, it looked cozy and like a really nice café. Her phone ringed, she picked up. It was Adam on the other side, he asked her if she wanted to come to The Dot. She could see him sitting on the terrace and talking in his phone. He didn't see her, that was an odd moment, talking to someone and being able to see them, and know that they don't see you. Carmen told him to look across the street. He looked and saw her he gestured that she should come to him. She nodded hung up her phone and walked across the street, she looked if there was any traffic coming ( Cleverly wanting to avoid the "I'm walking across the street towards my crush and got hit by a car moment."). Carmen sat in the chair in front of him and ordered a black coffee. 'Black?'Adam asked. 'I've never liked milk or sugar in my coffee, my parents always gave me black, so I've grown up with it.' Adam gave Carmen a vague look, 'What? Why are you looking at me like that?' 'I just realized that I don't know a lot about you.' 'Well I'll be at your house at nine tonight because your brother wants to explain things, after that we can get to know each other better? The party doesn't start till twelve right?' Adam nodded: 'Ehm, I actually agreed with Eli that we had to talk so he'll be there at nine to.' Carmen looked at him with a look that said: you have to be kidding me! 'That's no problem is it Carmen ? ' Eli had suddenly appeared next to her, 'I'll pick you up at your place and we'll drive together.' Eli smirked at her, it was the smirk of someone who thought he was a winner, and it worked on Carmen's nerves, but she needed a ride to Adams place cause otherwise her mum would probably never let her go. 'Yeah, that would be good.' Carmen said trying to sound legit. 'Good, see you tonight then.' Eli said smiling at her like he had just won the noble price and he walked away. A shiver went through her, and although she tried to hide it Adam saw it. 'Are you really okay with that?' 'Yeah, It'll be fine, I'll survive fifteen minutes in a car with him for being with you for the rest of the night.' Carmen winked at him.


	5. Chapter 5

Meeting Eli: Chapter 5.

Chapter 5: I think I'll go for a ride.

Country music was coming from Adams headphones, Carmen could lightly hear it from the carrier of the bicycle. He was giving her a lift home on Drew's bike. Drew wasn't out for another hour so he wouldn't notice. Carmen had asked Adam why Drew had a bike at school, but Adam didn't know why either. Her arms are around his waist and her head is lying against his shoulder. She doesn't know why but just being quiet with him this way makes her feel safe. They stop in front of her house, she jumps of the bike and gives Adam a light kiss. 'See you tonight.' 'Yes, see you tonight, Carmen are you really okay with driving with Eli tonight?'Carmen nods and waves him goodbye. She turns and runs into the house quickly. She walks into the bathroom and looks into the mirror. What are you doing, she thinks. You cannot keep on doing this, you have to get some sleep and stop thinking about Eli. She was sad because, she wanted that moment of feeling safe on the bike with Adam to last forever, but it had already ended.

Carmen had decided on a lilac dress, with patterned tights and lots of jewelry as her party outfit. She had taken her hair out of the bun she had been wearing all day, and left it hanging down in its natural wavy state. She kept her make-up to a minimum and walked downstairs to see where her mom was. At that moment she got a text.

Eli G: Carmen, I'm outside. We have to go a little earlier because the road to Adams place is blocked so we need more time to get there. XX

Carmen said goodbye to her mother, and grabbed her coat before running out of the door to jump into Eli's car. 'Sorry it took so long, my mother was nowhere to be found and I had to say goodbye.' 'No problem, so we meet again in my car, that must be faith.' 'No it's necessary, my mom wouldn't let me go if I didn't have a ride.' 'She shouldn't, a lot can happen to a pretty girl who doesn't have a ride. Okay scratch that that sounded really cheesy.' Eli looked at her with that signature smirk of him on his face. 'Eli can you do me a favor?'Carmen asked. Eli nodded. 'Can you be real with me? not the usual Eli who doesn't care about anything. Not the mysterious Eli who likes to lead people on? Just Eli who's honest to his…friend.' Carmen decided on the word friend to be a good description of what was going on between her and Eli. Eli started the car and drove for a minute before saying: 'I can do that, but then you have to do something for me too.' 'Okay, what is it?' 'We'll do a question for an answer, you ask me a question, I answer truthfully, but because I answered your question I get to ask one and so on.' Carmen looked at Eli 'That sounds dangerous.' 'Only for someone who is afraid of the truth. Are you afraid?' Carmen is a very impulsive girl, and never says no to a challenge, Eli knows this of course, and plays right into this. Eli smirked at her annoyed look, perfect he got her now. Ever since she had kissed Adam in the hallway to make the rumors go away, Eli knew Carmen could be tricked into bets and games easily. 'Fine but I get to ask the first question.' 'Go ahead, ladies first.' Carmen was feeling a little naive, see knows she's easily pulled into games like this, but Eli was so interesting and she had a lot of questions for him.

'Are you on pills?' Eli looked at her shocked. 'I used to be, not anymore though.' 'Why?' 'That was already a question, Carmen. It's my turn now. Why am I in your phone as Eli G? Why not just Eli?' 'I have another friend with the name Eli, how did you know you're in my phone as Eli G?' 'Adam told me, do you like Adam?' 'Yes, what's going on between you and Clare?' 'She broke up with me, and then suddenly she kissed me at the frostival. And now it's a little awkward. Do you like me?' 'Yes. So what are you going to do about her?' 'I am just waiting for something to click, but it isn't happening, I think I'm over her, and I don't want to go back there and get sad again.' 'Or crash a car again.' 'Very funny, how did you know it was her I crashed the car for?' 'I didn't, but now I do.' Eli stared at her for a moment 'You said yes when I asked you if you liked Adam, but also when I asked you if you liked me. What's that about?' 'You just asked me how I knew about Clare it's my turn to ask the question. Why don't you talk to Clare about being over her?' 'I did but she doesn't get it. So what was the yes about?' ' I like you, and I like Adam just in different ways.' Carmen looked out of the window, she felt a little weird about what she just said. I was the truth but it still felt weird, why did she like Adam? And mostly why did she find Eli so interesting? 'Was that really the truth Carmen?'Eli asked looking at her. She looked back at him. And shook her head.


	6. Chapter 6

Meeting Eli: Chapter 6.

Chapter 6: I love you like a love song.

Carmen : Eli picked me up earlier cause a road is blocked in your area, we need more time because of that. See you soon. Xx

Adam : Blocked road? I don't know anything about that. Okay see you soon. Xx

Carmen looked at Eli who was lightly humming along to a song on the radio. Did he lie about the extra time they needed? 'Black Veil Brides?' She said pointing at the radio. 'Yes, they're my favorite. Wait you're a girl and you know them?' 'Yes, they're kind of my favorite too.' Carmen tried to keep the conversation about things they had in common. After the whole question for an answer game, she wanted to be as careful as possible. She didn't notice that this was making Eli feel even more interested in her, since they have so much in common. 'You look very pretty tonight by the way.' Carmen blushed 'Thanks.' But then the alarms rang in her head, was he flirting? 'Are we almost there?' 'Yeah it's two blocks from here, am I that boring?' She laughed 'No you're not, I just want to see Adam.' Eli swallowed 'Ah Adam yes, so are you like official or just having fun?' Carmen swallowed, 'I don't really know we haven't really talked about it.' Eli raised his eyebrows and looked over at her, ' you haven't talked about it? Then what do you do when you're together?' Carmen laughed and looked at him, 'what do you think we do?' 'Oh' Eli said 'oh alright.' 'Not only that though we do talk a lot just not about being together.' Eli parked the car, 'here it is, Adams house.' Eli stepped out of the car, Carmen looked at the house, it was really big she realized. Then Eli opened the car door and held it open for her so she jumped out and straightened her dress. 'This is going to be fun, thanks for the ride Eli.' 'Anything for you Carmen, anything…' Adam stepped out of the house and waved at them, Carmen ran up to him. Eli watched as they embraced, he watched how they kissed, he watched how she said 'I'm so happy to see you!' and he watched Adam smiling at her and saying 'you look amazing.' Eli swallowed, he could feel the anger starting to bubble in his head. Although he tried telling himself he was okay with it, well he wasn't.

Carmen was talking to Drew. Bianca was holding his hand, she looked as if he was going to disappear any second and she wanted to see every last bit of him before he did. But of course Drew didn't disappear, she just didn't want what he was saying to be true. Eli and Adam went outside to talk, although Adam looked fine he was really worried about what his best friend had to say about him and Carmen. Eli pointed out one of the flowers and said: 'Carmen is like a flower, if you treat her right she'll bloom but if you don't she'll wilt.' 'What does that mean.' Eli turned and looked at Adam, 'I don't think you will be able to treat her right.'


	7. Chapter 7

Meeting Eli chapter 7.

Chapter 7: I´m gonna give all my secrets away.

Rrrrrring, rrring. 'Carmen! Can you pick up the phone please I need to keep an eye on dinner.' 'Sure mum, ' Carmen said and she picked up the phone. 'Hello?' 'Hello is this Carmen?' 'Yes this is her how can I help you?' 'I'm your dads secretary for his New York office and he asked me to arrange a meeting with you. He was wondering if you wanted to come to New York since you are free next week.' The women sounded weirdly excited and Carmen felt her head begin to boil, This women didn't know anything about the relationship between her and her father. 'Tell him no thanks.' Carmen said and she hung up. 'Was it your dad?' her mother asked. Carmen nodded and started to put plates on the table. 'He wants me to go to New York, to visit him.' Her mother smiled at her 'Well maybe you should, New York is really nice, and I'm sure your dad misses you.' Carmen put a plate down a little too hard and looked at her mom, 'No.' Her mother looked at her, she nodded. 'Fine let's have dinner then.' And she turned back to the stove, her shoulders shook a little. 'Mum? Are you okay?' Her mother turned off the stove and leaned against the counter. 'I…I I never meant for you to hate him so much, he's your dad…you know.. and' her mother started sobbing. 'Mum?' Carmen put down the phone and ran towards her mother and hugged her, 'oo mum I'm so sorry, I don't hate him I just don't think he should let his secretary call me for an appointment with him, he should call himself if he really wants to speak to me.'

'Adam what's going on? Why do you look so upset? And where are we going?'Carmen said while trying to keep up with Adam who was holding her wrist while pulling her along. Suddenly Adam stopped walking, causing Carmen to walk in to him. 'Wow we're there then?' Adam nodded and turned around he tried not to look at her he swallowed, leant from his heels to his toes and back again. 'I'm so sorry for what I'm about to say.' 'What is it? Adam, what's going on did your brother get you in trouble?' 'No, no, no I need to… I need to break up with you, if we we're ever official.' Carmen was silent and looked at him. 'Like I said… I´m sorry.´ He turned around to walk back to school. ` Wait!´ He turned around, ´what happened we we´re fine on Friday, we talked and texted in the weekend and now it´s Monday and suddenly we are not fine anymore.´ He shook his head ´I started thinking that I would never be able to treat you right.´ ´What? Where did you get that from?´ Adam just apologized again and walked away. Leaving Carmen in absolute bewilderment.

When Carmen got home she heard the phone ringing, she ran to the living and got there right in time to pick it up. ´Hello.´ `Hello, this is the secretary from Allan's office, are you Carmen?.´ ´Yes, what does he want?´ ´He has asked me to make an appointment to meet with you.´ ´Like I said before, I´m not coming to New York.´ ´No, I think Allan got that. So he´s coming to you. He asks if tomorrow at four o´clock at The Dot is possible for you?´ ´Yes that'll be fine I guess´ Carmen said and hung up.

The next day at four o clock Carmen was sitting opposite her dad at The Dot. He was smiling at her, but she didn´t smile back she sipped some of her coffee and just looked at him. Eventually her dad broke the silence ´ I am really happy to see you, how are you, do you like it here? ` She nodded. Her dad looked at her a little bit of annoyance became visible in his eyes, ´talk to me Carmen, I know you´re angry with me, but I´m still your dad and I came all this way to see you.´ `Fine, I am okay and I kinda like it here. So how are you Allan?´ Her dad smiled ´Same here, I´m okay and I like this place it has nice coffee.´ ´Yes, so what do you want, surprised I ask? Come on you didn´t come all this way, just to talk small talk with your only daughter.´ Her dad smiled, ´Sharp as always Carmen, as always. I have come to talk to you about next week, I want you to come and stay with me in New York. ´He looked at her making himself ready for a fight but Carmen said: `Okay I´ll be there on Saturday.´ Her dad raised his eyebrows. She smiled at him ´No one, not even me would say no to a trip to New York and I would love to see your new office.´ Carmen drank her last bit of coffee and jumped up she said goodbye to her dad and walked out of The Dot. She had been walking for about ten minutes when she realized Eli was trying to catch up with her. She turned and waited for him to catch up. ´Have you been following me since I left The Dot? ´ He was gasping for air so Carmen guessed that he had been. ´Just…give…me..a second please´ Eli said still gasping for air. Carmen smiled ´Sure, you just take your time we should sit.´ She motioned towards the nearest bench. And they sat together, when Eli had finally caught his breath he smiled at her. ´Thank you.´ Carmen laughed,´ you have to get a little more exercise.´ ´I just tried to catch up with you for the last ten minutes, you are a fast walker Carmen, very fast.´ ´Yes but why did you? It´s not like we won´t see each other very soon we have school tomorrow.´ ´I overheard your conversation with your dad. I didn´t even know you had, well of course you have a dad but I didn´t know he lives in New York and that you still talk to him. Well anyway it made me realize how much I don´t know about you. Do you have any other secrets I don´t know about?´ Carmen smirked at him mysteriously ´ So many secrets , so little time.´


End file.
